Principal's Daily

Mass on Friday followed by Town Hall and please get your names to Cris by Thursday.

Visitors Day today; Student Appreciation Day tomorrow; Career Day on Thursday; Grandparents Day Friday with Minimum day and no staff meeting.

The “Souper Bowl” service learning project is in full swing so please ask the kids to consider bringing in a donation for those less fortunate. Thanks.

Here’s Part II of this three-part article entitled “Jon Saphier on High Expectations” in Principal(February 2017): Beliefs manifest themselves in subtle ways, says Saphier, often in the words we choose. “Taking on that mission will bring us face to face with our own beliefs about our children’s capacity and our own inevitable doubts about how malleable ability is.” He provides two classroom dialogues, the first revealing the teacher’s fixed mindset (notice the unspoken messages at every turn), the second deftly conveying a growth mindset and getting the student launched in the right direction:

Scenario #1: Student: I can’t do number four. Teacher: You can’t? Why not? Student: I just can’t do it. Teacher: Don’t say you can’t do it. We never say we can’t do it. Did you try hard? Student: Yes, but I can’t do it. Well, you did the first three problems. Maybe if you went back and worked a little longer you could do the fourth problem, too. Why don’t you work at it a little more and see what happens.

Scenario #2: Student: I can’t do number four. Teacher: What part don’t you understand? Student: I just can’t do it. Teacher: Well, I know you can do part of it, because you’ve done the first three problems correctly. The fourth problem is similar but just a little harder. You start out the same, but then you have to do one extra step. Review the first three problems, and then start number four again and see if you can figure it out. I’ll come back in a few minutes to see how you’re doing. Part III tomorrow!

Thanks Amy for coordinating the yummy sandwiches yesterday! Have a nice day today and enjoy our visitors and your kids and each other. God bless you.